Project: Shirt Resuscitation Part 2

Last time, I had the shirt, the threads, the design [HA!] that I drew, the fusible interfacing, and the dressmaker’s carbon for the design transfer. I didn’t start the project though, since I was a little intimidated by the size of it all, as it was a classic case of me biting off more than I can chew. Also, work projects took priority. So it got shelved for a few months.

The first task was to apply the interfacing. I was nervous about doing this, because of the creases that I thought may appear. But the interfacing was of much better quality than material I had previously worked with, so it ironed on well, and fused beautifully and soft.

I managed to cut a rectangle for the top, and ironed it on without incident. The key was to iron the top itself first, so it was flat in itself. I am sure other people know this already, but I didn’t. It was lucky happenstance.

The second picture is the front of the top, in glorious crease-less flatness.

Here is half of the design, and the dressmaker’s carbon paper. It DID NOT work. *sad face*

I then Googled “basting”, thinking that this technique was called that. Thankfully, Google is way smarter than me, and showed me articles for thread tracing. Unfortunately, the technique is meant to be used with tissue, which I didn’t have.

Slightly put out with this hiccup, I wondered what to do for a while. Didn’t trust myself to do a prick and pounce, because 1) thought I would run out of patience and make a mess; and 2) don’t have the materials for that either.

So, thought I would give the printer paper a shot. Printed out copies of the design, in case I flubbed the thing. Used a tiny hoop to secure the fabric, and transferred the design using tailoring thread in backstitch.

Again, was afraid of the final result. But it wasn’t so bad after all!

Those are sweet peas, and I am trying hard to ignore their resemblance to female genitalia. Once the fillings are done, they will look better. I hope!

Initially thought I could start working on these, but I see now that I would have to transfer the whole decision before making stitch and thread colour decisions. Next up is a HUGE peony. Not looking forward to that.